Odu's Young Irked By Parker's Decision

DAVID TEEL

April 07, 1989|By DAVID TEEL Staff Writer

Tom Young has been a collegiate head basketball coach for 29 seasons, the last four at Old Dominion. Like all his peers, Young has lost scores of recruits over the years, recruits he knew would elevate his team to the next level.

Maury High School's Cornell Parker is such a recruit. He is 6-foot-7, can play guard or forward, and most recruiting analysts rank him among the nation's top 50 prospects. Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East schools such as Virginia, North Carolina and Providence courted him, so imagine his impact on a Sun Belt Conference team such as ODU.

But that's all Young can do: imagine. Parker has told Virginia coaches that he will sign with the Cavaliers on Wednesday.

According to Young, that's a big mistake, a mistake of such magnitude that Young feels compelled - for the first time in 29 years, he says - to make public his thoughts.

Young said his primary concern is Parker's academic future. For a freshman to be eligible, the NCAA's Proposition 48 requires a 2.0 grade-point average in core curriculum such as math and English and a 700 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or a 15 on the American College Test. Parker will meet the grade standards but has yet to score 700 on the SAT.

Here the matter becomes a messy haze of promises and what-ifs.

Young said ODU will admit Parker to school on a basketball scholarship, whether or not he makes 700. Virginia will not make the same guarantee. If Parker does not meet NCAA guidelines, Virginia will ask him to attend either Fork Union Military Academy outside Charlottesville or Chowan Junior College in Murfreesboro, N.C.

Fork Union is a prep school. Parker could attend for a year, play basketball, improve his SAT score and retain four seasonsof eligibility at Virginia.

But according to Boo Williams, Parker's summer league coach, Virginia only recently raised the possibility of junior college.

At Chowan, Parker would be required to earn a two-year degree. Any basketball he played there would count against his eligibility at Virginia.

Remember, however, that as a Prop 48 casualty Parker could not play or practice at ODU next season and would still lose a year of eligibility.

"I feel academically and basketball-wise that he would be better off here," Young said. "I sincerely mean that. If he goes to Fork Union, doesn't get his SAT there, then he still can't get into Virginia and has to go to junior college."

Indeed, if Parker failed to achieve 700 while at Fork Union, he would be ineligible to play and ineligible for an athletic scholarship at any Division I school in the fall of 1990, according to the NCAA's Proposal 42, which goes into effect in 1990. That legislation, however, is expected to be overturned at January's NCAA Convention.

"He could lose his scholarship altogether," Young said. "Now get this: Virginia is telling him he could go (to junior college) for two years, play one, sit out the second and still have three years of eligibility left. That's no piece of cake, and he'd still have to graduate."

Under NCAA rules, Virginia coaches cannot comment on Parker until he signs the national letter of intent.

"We just went over options," Parker said. "We haven't decided anything. We'll wait until the last SAT, if it comes down to that."

Parker is scheduled to take the ACT on April 15, the SAT on May 6.

"I'm confident," Parker said of his chances on the tests.

Young would not speculate on Parker's chances of attaining 700. But his commentsindicate that he's not very confident, or that he's simply frustrated.

Parker was ODU's primary recruiting target. He was a fixture at ODU games and functions and his extraordinary (for a high school player) defensive skills are well-suited to Young's 40-minutes-of-pressure attack.

Young also claimed that Virginia does not know whether it will play Parker at point guard, wing guard or small forward.

"He's a player who doesn't have a position," Young said. "I emphasized from Day 1 that we'd give him a shot at point guard. ... I don't know whether he can play point guard, but it will be more difficult in the ACC."

Young contends he's not speaking from frustration.

"We can absolutely guarantee his future here," he said. "This is the rare occasion when you're dealing with the ACC where you can absolutely look someone square in the eye and say, `You're making a mistake.'"It's cut-and-dried. There's no girlfriend there. He doesn't like one of their assistant coaches. He didn't like some lake in town, all those stories you hear a thousand times. Anyone with sense at all knows darn well he's making a mistake, except the coaching staff at Virginia."

Williams disagreed.

"I don't know if he'll be a great player in the ACC, but he can play in that league," Williams said. "At Old Dominion, he might have been an impact player right away. ... I think he can come in (to Virginia) and play point guard, off guard or small forward. He can do a lot of things."

Williams added that he expects Parker to score 700 on the SAT.

Ask Young his motives in speaking out, and you'll catch a hint of frustration.

"I did it only to explain to a lot of people," he said. "Our fans, especially."

Said Williams: "I can see (Young) being upset. This is a kid I thought they could get. But this business is funny. It's hard to tell what makes a kid tick."

Parker: "It's about time I get away from home and out on my own. Virginia seems to be the right place."